Presenter Resources

Congratulations on having your session accepted for ACPA26! Below you will find helpful information for presenters on the ACPA26 Land Acknowledgement, inclusive language practices, presentation guidelines for accessibility, and presentation resources including the slide deck template, an accessibility checklist, and social media tools. Please review this page thoroughly to ensure that you have the best presentation possible!

Land Acknowledgement

Land acknowledgements will be utilized to begin every session at ACPA26. In addition to utilizing a centralized Land Acknowledgement for Baltimore, we want to recognize the occupied lands of each presenter. We are asking that presenters read our centralized Land Acknowledgement (included below) as well as their own Land Acknowledgement statement from their location. We believe that this will encourage attendees to learn about the Native, Indigenous, and Aboriginal communities in their area while also recognizing the local impact on these communities.

For more information on the process of creating a Land Acknowledgement, please see the resources below:

  • Visit A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement (via Native Governance Center): A suggested process and tips for creating an intentional statement.
  • Visit Native Land Digital: A worldwide map of Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world.
  • Practice the pronunciations of Native, Indigenous, and Tribal Nations. There are many resources online to assist with this and often audio clips or videos with examples. We recommend reviewing Tribal Nation websites, podcasts, and/or YouTube channels to assist with pronunciations. As a final resort, you may contact your local Tribal Nation Cultural Center for assistance with pronunciations.

Below is an example of a personal land acknowledgement you can include in your presentation:

I reside in Eugene, Oregon and acknowledge that I reside on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. I pay respect to the descendants of the Kalapuya people who are now citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

I reside in La Crosse Wisconsin, the traditional homelands of the Hoocąk(Ho-Chunk) people. My University’s land acknowledgement is as follows:”We would like to recognize that the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse occupies the land of the Ho-Chunk people. Please take a moment to celebrate and honor this ancestral Ho-Chunk land, and the sacred lands of all Indigenous peoples.”

Inclusive Language

As a welcoming and inclusive organization, we ask that you use equitable and inclusive practices in language at the Convention and in preparation for program sessions. Visit the Inclusive Language webpage for more information.

Presentation Guidelines

ACPA expects presenters to create inclusive and accessible presentations. Accessible materials will be distributed to participants in advance. If you have questions about the accessibility of Convention, or want to request accommodations, please contact access@acpa.nche.edu.

Tips in Preparing Your Presentation
  1. Share a Land Acknowledgement. Review the Land Acknowledgement information above for information and resources on preparing a Land Acknowledgement.
  2. Use a microphone. Test your microphone prior to the presentation and ensure that the microphone you are using is as close as possible to your mouth or the optimal distance for the microphone. Give audience members who have questions or comments the mic or summarize the comments over the mic before moving on. 
  3. Use the ACPA26 Presentation Template *coming soon*. Presentation materials should feature larger fonts (20+) and should break thoughts/ideas being presented in smaller, manageable sections. Examples of this include using 2-3 bullet points per slide.
  4. All thoughts, ideas, & discussion points should be present in some form of presentation materials. If you have not included all of your thoughts, ideas, and discussion points on the presentation slides, providing a supplemental outline to the presentation can help.
  5. When presenting and referring to pictures, diagrams, tables, and graphs in the presentation, be sure to describe those while presenting and tag all images with alt text (instructions below).
  6. While outlining your presentation times, plan for individuals who need additional time to process and understand what you are presenting.
  7. If you are showing any videos during your presentation, only use media that has been captioned. Check the captions for accuracy. If you can update or adjust the captions (i.e., through Youtube), do so. If you can’t adjust the captions and must use the media, use tools such as Otter.AI or Microsoft Stream to generate a transcript that can be shared with the attendees.
Presentations
  1. Simple breakdown on how to make presentations accessible: Powerpoint; Google Slides
  2. Alternative Text in presentations: Microsoft 365, Office 2019, Office 2016
  3. Captioning media in Powerpoint
  4. Presenting with live automatic captions: Powerpoint; Google Slides.
  5. Access Checker from WebAIM
PDFs (as a note, the Word format is often preferred for screen readers)
  1. How to make PDFs accessible in Adobe Acrobat
  2. Reader on PDF accessibility
Google Docs/Word
  1. Simple breakdown on how to making documents accessible: Word; Google Docs
  2. Use the Headings Feature to set up an automatic Table of Contents and easy readability for a document/screen reader: Word; Google Docs
  3. Alternative Text in documents: Google Slides
Accessible Program Checklist

The ACPA26 Planning Team created a checklist for presenters to ensure they create accessible sessions. All presenters are expected to review the checklist to ensure their session is inclusive for all participants. Download the ACPA26 Accessible Program Checklist.

Slide Deck Template

Download the Template

All should use this template as it has been reviewed for accessibility. Note: Do not place text in the bottom portion of the slide that is blocked off for where we will display the captions.

After downloading the PowerPoint file, consider the following:

  • Enter the title of your session into the title slide. This should match the title you included in the Program Proposal.
  • Copy and paste slides from an existing presentation where the slide says “Insert your presentation” or build your PowerPoint starting from that slide.

If you choose to use your own PowerPoint template, include text from the following slides into your presentation:

  • Land Acknowledgement – this will be located after your title slide and before session content
  • Inclusive Language – this will be located after your Land Acknowledgement slide and before session content
  • Insert Alt Text on images – in PowerPoint select “Picture Format” and “Alt Text” to add a statement that describes the image.
  • Session Evaluation – this will be located at the end of the presentation.

Session Marketing Templates through Canva

If you are presenting during ACPA26 and would like to encourage registrants to attend your session, consider using our pre-designed templates to create excitement on social media. Add your personalized session information and share on your various channels!